Archives for posts with tag: exercise

Latest Milestones

April 3, 2013 //

My recovery continues, though at a slower pace. Nonetheless, I’ve passed a few milestones in the last week:

1) I tried on the swim suit I bought awhile back and not only does it fit, but I look normal in the chest area. Woo hoo!

2) The miracle lounger went back to the medical supply company this morning. I still need to spend a lot of time sleeping as well as most of the day off of my feet but sleeping in bed has gotten comfortable again and our couch is again comfy. I miss my tray table, though. My laptop computer is warm and although it is comfortably resting on my legs right now, I expect it will cause some hot flashes later in the day.

3) I averaged 3 miles a day of walking, for seven days straight! Yesterday I was beat so I stayed in. I didn’t make myself feel guilty about it but instead reminded myself that walking every day is above my health goals. I started walking every day instead of 5 times a week because it felt good and I wanted to do it. So yesterday I was mindful that my body was not up to doing a “bonus round” of exercising.

4) On Sunday, I cooked for the first time since the surgery. I wanted to bring something to my brother and sister-in-law’s for Easter dinner. I roasted some asparagus. It took me 15 minutes, including washing, trimming, and cooking. They were delicious.

Tags Breast Cancer, coping with breast cancer, exercise, health, TRAM breast reconstruction

Categories Facts, Feelings

Feeling good and guilty

March 19, 2013 //

So I felt much better this morning. That’s the good news. The bad news? The nagging thoughts that I should be doing something more productive with my time, like my business taxes! Oh wait, did I write, “nagging thoughts”? I meant to write “the nagging thoughts inspired by my nagging husband.”

John asked me two days ago when I was planning to do my part of our tax return, basically the part that covers my psychology practice. He was asking me before the surgery and I told him that it was a project that I would do during my medical leave. It takes about 2 days when I have a full tank of brain. I told John that I’d been out of the hospital less than a week and he needed to not ask me about it. He asked when he could ~~nag~~ remind me about it again and I told him he could ask again in a week.

Okay, so this is the same man who after I requested that we stop at my office to pick up my mail on the way home from my doctor’s appointment, asked, “You’re not thinking of WORKING are you?” He settled down when he realized that I was just planning to pick up the checks from insurance companies and patients that have accumulated in over a week since I’d been in. I am paid from many sources. There’s no auto-deposit option.

So, if you haven’t caught on by now, although I harbored those ever present feelings of love for my wonderful husband, I was also experiencing a wave of irritation. When I woke up this morning, I had a lot more energy than yesterday. I was happy and then I started feeling guilty. “Oh man, maybe I should stop putting off doing the taxes.” Then I talked myself out of it for a few minutes. Then I realized that I was really bored.

The days have been going by pretty slowly, after all, even on the ones when I nap a lot. So I started my taxes. And you know what? The time passed a lot more quickly and I have a feeling of accomplishment.

Does this mean I’m going to just push through this every day until it’s done? Probably not. In the spirit of mindfulness, I’m just going to take things as they come and make the plans that make the most sense each day.

And to cap it all off, I was able to walk a mile today and I felt good the whole time! I have now walked over 300 miles since I started tracking my walks at the beginning of December! Yay!

Tags Breast Cancer, Coping with cancer, exercise, health, taxes, TRAM reconstruction

Categories Facts, Feelings

The Thrilla up the Hill-a

February 24, 2013 //

Seattle is a very hilly city. Compared to other major U.S. cities, Seattle it ranks second. (San Francisco is number 1, not surprisingly.)

A few days ago, I slept in instead of going walking at my usual time. I ended up getting to work early and taking a shorter walk in the neighborhood surrounding my office. I decided to walk on a long hill rather than taking a winding route since Seattle is full of twists and turns and dead ends, due to the aforementioned hills. I wanted to make sure that I would make it back to my office in time for my first patient.

So here is my photo chronicle of my fight with the hill, The Thrilla up the Hill-a.

Okay, the hill is a little steep but I’m coming out with a perk in my step, light on my feet.

It’s heating up. The gloves come off! (Thanks, exercised induced hot flash.)

Okay, the fight’s slowing down a little. The incline is flattening out a bit.

Wait, this hill goes on and on! I have been fooled!

The hill continues, but I am now in “Church Alley” and get spiritual support from Seattle Lutheran High School to my right and West Seattle Christian to my left.

I made it! Holy Rosary Church greet me at the end of the battle.

Okay, so the truth is that the “Thrilla up the Hill-a” was not the “fight of the century”. It was actually fairly easy. I did not have to take the hill to 14 rounds to knock it out, unlike Mohammed Ali and Joe Frazier. It was enjoyable but didn’t make me stretch all that much. Maybe it was the “Thrilla of Vanilla.”

I’m a lot stronger than I thought I was and I’m going to keep fighting for good health and peace in my life.

Tags Breast Cancer, Coping with cancer, exercise, Fitness

Categories Feelings, Silly

Two Hundred Miles!

February 9, 2013 //

I started walking daily last fall. I started tracking my walks on a phone application on December 2nd.

Since that time, I’ve walked over 200 miles and during the coldest and rainiest time of the year.

So that’s over 200 miles on my journey of health. Hooray!

In case you missed this picture of my glamorous walking outfit from an earlier post. Today I am wearing a light weight teal rain coat and striped socks!

Tags Breast Cancer, Coping with cancer, exercise, health

Categories Facts, Feelings

What the Cat Drug in from the Cat Walk

January 23, 2013 //

I have a definite sense of style. When I was a young girl, most of my clothes were used, hand-me-downs from my brothers or from the local used clothing store. Now it is kind of cool to wear second hand clothes. Back then, it was definitely not cool to do so. And I had interesting taste when I was younger, to put it mildly. When I was 10, I saw these shoes at the second hand store that I really wanted. They were flat and brightly colored. I know that green was one of the colors and there was another one, too. I was happily wearing them at school when one of the older kids recognized what they were. “Hey, she’s wearing bowling shoes!” And upon seeing the $1.49 price marked on the sole in grease pencil, “And they’re used!”

As I got older, my style got more sophisticated. As an adult, I dress pretty nicely for work. I am embarrassed to admit how much I like to shop for dresses and shoes. I hate “going shopping” though and buy nearly all of my clothes online at discount sites.

When I’m not at the office, however, I am much more about “function” than “form.” This is particularly true of the outfit I wear for my daily 3 mile long walks. And as a resident of Seattle, I have nearly every inch of me covered in Gore-Tex. My neighbor, Paula, who works for the famous outdoor recreation outfitters, REI, makes fun of my outfit. I don’t know, I think it is cat walk ready. Maybe I’ll get hired to do a Cabela’s ad to be featured in Field and Stream.

For the breast cancer survivor on the go. The latest in waterproof walking attire, complete with hot flash friendly layering.

Tags Breast Cancer, Coping with cancer, exercise, fashion, wellness

Categories Uncategorized

Merry Wetmas!

December 25, 2012 //

As a kid growing up in the Seattle area, I often wished very hard for a white Christmas only to end up with a soggy one. This Christmas morning was no different. It has been raining steadily for hours. What was different this year was that I put on my rain gear and went out for a three mile walk, which is my new daily habit.

Yes, the rain was falling and heavily at times, but I was warm and mostly dry, as I like to remind myself on rainy walks. And although I took care to avoid walking through the deep puddles, I did admire the patterns the rain drops made as they landed on the water’s surface. I even got to see some squirrels chasing each other while splashing through them.

And the human animals were active, as well. I could see children opening their presents in their brightly decorated living rooms. Some others were watching Curious George wearing a Santa hat, on television.

I ended my walk in a very merry mood, indeed.

Merry Christmas! And if you don’t celebrate today’s holiday, I wish you a very terrific Tuesday!

Tags Christmas, Coping with cancer, exercise

Categories Feelings

You Win Some, You Lose Some

December 22, 2012 //

As they say, “You win some and you lose some.” But today both the gains and the loss are good news! We have two more minutes of day light today! And two more tomorrow! And two more the day after that! Until the summer solstice!

As for the loss, I lost a pound this week, which makes for a total of 30 pounds since May 5th! In one pound, my BMI will enter the “Healthy Weight” range. Hooray!

Tags Coping with cancer, exercise, weight loss

Categories Facts, Feelings

The Miracle of the Hot Flash

December 17, 2012 //

I awoke to the sound of howling wind and rain this morning. I immediately thought of walking three miles in the wind and rain. It was not an appealing thought. I tried to go back to sleep because it was only 5 am. I ended up resting until my alarm went off at 6:30. I did my 10 minutes of mindfulness meditation and then took a look at the weather report. The weather report said rain and wind with “gusts up to 60 miles/hour.” 60 miles an hour?!?!?! Then I clicked on “current conditions” and it said, “Cloudy. Wind 16 mph.” Well 16 is windy but much less gusty than 60 mph. So I got dressed and started my walk.

The best compliment I can give to the first part of the walk was “unpleasant but not horrible”. I mean, it wasn’t like I’d crash landed in the Andes and had to start eating my dead friends to stay alive. Secure in the knowledge that my plight was far less dire that that of the Donner Party’s, I kept walking.

It was not only windy, but the wind was blowing from a different direction than it does typically. The upshot of this is that it was not blocked by the homes I walk by daily. In fact I felt like I was in a little wind tunnel that ran between the houses and up and down the street. I reminded myself that it wasn’t raining.

About two miles into the walk, I thought, “Wow, this is my Forrest Gump moment. I’m like Lt. Dan when he’s up on the mast of the shrimp boat in the middle of a hurricane. As the wind and rain pound him, he yells something along the lines of, “Is that the best you got, God?”

Then I thought, “No, this is not my Forrest Gump moment.” I don’t really feel that way. Plus, I am not a traumatized, embittered, and alcoholic Vietnam veteran. By this time, I had warmed up from walking. I also had the miracle of the hot flash! Instead of being biting and harsh, the wind felt good. So I took the moment of the miracle of the hot flash to envision the wind taking away the fatigue and slightly low spirits I’ve been feeling these last few days.

Does this mean that I’m going to be one of those people who takes the “Polar Bear Plunge” by swimming in the sea during the dead of winter? No. It doesn’t even mean that I’m not going to continue to invest in the best outdoor gear that I can so that I can continue my walks, rain, snow, wind, or shine.

What it does mean is that I’m going to continue to play both the good and bad cards in the hand I was dealt, the best I can. Sanity, now that a cause worth getting out of bed for.

Tags Coping with cancer, exercise

Categories Facts, Feelings